For many years, knee pads have been used in industrial, athletic and orthopedic applications to protect the wearer's knee from hard surfaces, impact or uncontrolled movement. With developments in orthopedic medicine, the causes of certain types of knee injury have become better recognized. It is also clear that many existing knee pads are incapable of properly protecting the knee during various activities. In some cases, improper knee pads can actually exacerbate injury and increase recovery time. The dislocation of the patella and associated soft tissue damage can be a common knee injury often attributable to inadequate knee protection.
For example, existing industrial knee pad designs fail to adequately stabilize the knee of the wearer during use. Traditional knee pads are constructed from a rigid pad that is held onto the wearer's knee with suitable straps. The interior of the knee pad fails to provide a contoured surface that will ergonomically support the kneecap. During use, the wearer's patella is permitted to laterally displace within the interior portion of the knee pad.
With increased focus on providing safe work environments, it is critically important to provide a properly designed knee pad that stabilizes and supports the wearer's patella during use. It is to these and other deficiencies in the prior art that the present invention is directed.